meantime, barack obama had defeated john mccain in the race to succeed george bush. during the transition, incoming chief of staff rahm emanuel mapped out a governing strategy. >> you never want a serious crisis to go to waste, what i mean by that, an opportunity to do things you could not do before. >> do you remember when rahm emanuel said in 2008 never let a crisis go to waste. >> absolutely. >> john: what do you think? >> cynical. >> at the time he ran a plastics company in wisconsin. >> of course, they didn't let a crisis go to waste. >> when the town is burning, you don't check the party labels. everybody needs to grab a hose. >> his first month in office president obama invoked the economic crisis to ram through an 800 billion dollars stimulus bill, but there was a growing fear among some voters that america couldn't afford this new a trillion here, a trillion there attitude in washington. house republicans heard them. not a single one voted for the bill. it was a lesson for the g.o.p. in the era of obama, says georgia congressman, republican tom price. >> tha